Suggests that public health nurses at work act neither completely on the basis of conformity to external organizational restraints, nor wholly on the basis of internalized professional constraints, but on the basis of selected aspects of their environment which take into account their own situational interests. (Author/AM)

Adult subjects (N=10) were studied to determine whether inconsistent information about others produces more discrimination of people or leads to alternative ways of categorizing. Pretest-posttest indications indicated inconsistency produced more discrimination of others and alternative ways of categorizing others. (SBP)

This paper discusses a previously unidentified turn-allocation technique - third person reference. When such a reference is used, participants are orienting to the solution of a practical organizational problem: how to keep at least one of their number from talking, while preserving the right of all others to talk. (Author/CFM)

Suggests that before secondary principals can deal effectively with discipline problems, they should graph disciplinary incidents according to the school calendar in order to identify peak behavioral problem periods. (JG)

This research attempted to reconcile previous results in the area of humor and aggression. It was hypothesized that humor serves two functions, arousal and attentional shift, with regard to its influence on the relation of prior anger arousal and aggression. (Editor/RK)

Young (N=18) and older (N=18) adults participated in a vocabulary task involving varying degrees of risk with a payoff structure that varied either directly or inversely with risk. In contrast to prior research using constant payoff structures, results did not indicate that older adults are more cautious than young adults. (Author)

A study of 22 preschool children with autism investigated touch therapy effects on problems commonly associated with autism including inattentiveness, touch aversion, and withdrawal. Orienting to irrelevant sounds and stereotypic behaviors decreased in both the touch therapy and the touch control group; however, orienting decreased more in the…

Three models of behavioral effects of genetic disorders characterized by mental retardation were compared: (1) no-specific effect model (all genetic disorders have identical behavioral outcomes); (2) totally specific model (each genetic disorder has unique outcomes); and (3) partially specific model (two or more genetic disorders share outcomes…

Subtle effects of gender stereotyping in children's literature were studied in 30 noted children's books from 1984 through 1994. Results show more males in titles and pictures, with no difference in central roles. Males were described as more active, but adjectives used for females were more positively evaluated. (SLD)

Contrasted a new measure of self-control, the Retrospective Behavioral Self-Control scale (RBS), with the most widespread measure of this construct (H. Grasmick and others, 1993). Results show that the RBS measured the general factor of behavior across samples of 214 and 213 undergraduates and 76 employees, but the other scale, used with only one…

Examined individual differences in the relations among preadolescents' sociomoral understanding and self-understanding and teacher and peer ratings of school behavior. Findings for 239 preadolescents are discussed in terms of curricular implications for inter- and intrapersonal understandings. (SLD)

Studied whether pubertal timing by self-report (SR), parent report (PR), or physical examination predicted the same aspects of adjustment and behavior problems. Findings for 52 girls, 56 boys, and their parents show that pubertal timing by SR and PR did not always provide the same level of prediction as did physical examination. (SLD)

Explains scientific character as an attempt to move beyond the ability-centered focus of student learning in science towards recognizing the role of attitude and affect on student performance and the importance of developed patterns of behavior. Highlights the role of inclination and awareness as important factors in the development of scientific…

Forty-nine foster children with behavioral problems who were referred to therapy were compared to 19 normal children in foster care. Results found that the age of the child when placed in care, the number of placements, and the type of placement affected the need for therapy. (CR)